Skip to calculator

Skill gap cost calculator

What are skill gaps costing your plant?

Answer a few questions about your site. Your result updates as you type, with no form to see it. Every default shows where it comes from.

Example numbers are filled in so you can see how it works. Replace them with yours.

Your plant
How things run today

Answer from what you know today. A rough sense is enough.

Are there stations or tasks only one person is signed off on?
If an auditor asked for one operator's training and sign-off records, how long would it take to pull them?
How long until a new hire is signed off to work alone?
Will people who hold key sign-offs retire in the next five years?
Do your experienced people have time to train and sign off others?
Where does your skills record live today?
Quality and downtime

Your own estimate works here too.

Roughly how much of your output is scrapped or reworked?
In the last two years, have quality problems reached your customers?
How often does a line wait or slow down because no qualified person is free?
Know your exact figures? Use them here

The dollar estimate starts from typical figures for a plant like yours. Replace any of them with your own to make it more accurate.

People and pay

Turnover default: U.S. manufacturing separations, 2025 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Includes layoffs and retirements.
Hiring cost default: SHRM 2025 average for nonexecutive roles.
Your estimate. No published figure exists for this.

Audits and admin, per site

Downtime and defects

Warranty default: 1.30% of product sales, the 2025 average for U.S. manufacturers (Warranty Week).

Where skill gaps show up on your floor

From your answers

What your current skill gaps may be costing you

For finance

Potential annual loss

$0

Staff time, hiring and ramp-up, from your answers. Each line below shows how we got there.

Audit evidence prep
Training reports built by hand
Assessment admin
Closing training findings
Hiring to replace leavers
Ramp-up until sign-off

Where skills play a part

Exposure, kept out of the total

These costs have many causes. They show the scale of what is at stake in your plant.

Downtime

Downtime cost you trace to people or skills

Defects

Scrap and rework

Problems that reached customers

Warranty and returns

All quality costs, at 2% to 5% of revenueThe range 40% of 210 quality decision-makers gave in a 2026 survey. Another 42% put it above 5%.

Compliance risk

OSHA maximum per willful or repeat violation2025 levels, in effect for 2026. Shown for reference only.

$165,514

Plant Exposure Report

Download your result to share with your team

  • Your result, line by line, with the sources behind it
  • A one-page summary you can forward to finance
  • The standard and safety references for your sector

Get your complete Plant Exposure Report as a PDF, ready to share with your team.

Complete the consultation form to download your report.

How we calculate this
LineFormulaDefault and source
Staff timeSites × audits × prep hours × people, plus report and assessment hours, × hourly costYour numbers
Training findingsFindings × hours to close × hourly costYour numbers
HiringWorkers × turnover × hiring costBureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS 2025; SHRM 2025 benchmarking
Ramp-upLeavers × weeks to sign-off × 40 hours × hourly cost × output lostYour numbers and estimate
Replacement cost referenceLeavers × $10,000 to $40,000UKG Workforce Institute 2024 survey, cited by Deloitte
DowntimeYour hours × your cost an hourYour numbers. Siemens, True Cost of Downtime 2024 as reference
Scrap and reworkRevenue × the range you picked, or your exact rateYour answer
Recall referenceNot calculatedSedgwick, first half of 2026
WarrantyRevenue × warranty rateWarranty Week, 2025 claims
All quality costsRevenue × 2% to 5%Lumafield Cost of Quality Report, 2026
OSHA referenceNot calculatedOSHA penalty memo, May 21, 2026

Talk through your numbers with us

We walk through your result with you and look at where training records and sign-offs may fall short. You decide what happens next.